Consumers are using mobile devices more and more, and the use of mobile telephones in particular is ubiquitous. In fact, in some countries it is common for consumers to utilize mobile telephones to communicate, to pay for goods and/or services, and to transfer funds between family members and/or friends. Thus, methods and apparatus have been developed to provide payment-enabled mobile devices to consumers for their use in making purchases and transferring money. However, current systems operate as closed loop systems wherein all the parties (customers, family members, friends, and merchants) in the system have accounts with a single payment services provider (PSP). In these closed-loop systems, a purchase or payment transaction involves direct transfers between the parties' accounts that are issued by the payment services provider. Therefore, payments can only be made between parties (such as a merchant and a consumer) who belong to the same closed loop system. Such a closed-loop mobile money system has limited utility for end users.
The inventors recognized that there is a need for systems, apparatus and processes for safely, quickly and reliably transfer money between cardholders and merchants and/or family members regardless of the payment system (closed-loop or open-loop) to which the parties belong. There is also a need for such systems, apparatus and processes to facilitate easy access by cardholders to cash at ATM and/or at agent locations through use of a debit operation. In addition, a need exists for a cardholder account that permits consumers to securely and easily conduct point-of-sale (POS) transactions at traditional merchant locations, while also permitting e-commerce transactions.